I was born in Russia and moved to US when I was 15. Russians generally dont smile/laugh unless it's a specific comedic setting. There is a Russian saying "laughter without a reason is a sign of mental instability" and everyone always says it. Even now when I pose for pictures everyone in US always tells me to smile more even though I already do.

When I visited Moscow, I befriended many Russians and they told me that they did not trust Americans b/c they were always smiling.

Yet, I found them to be witty and funny, w/laugh out loud reactions. Finally, I said to them, you must understand Americans are culturally required to smile. If they don't, Americans will visit a doctor for medicine to treat their melancholy state.

They laughed and laughed, tears-down-eyes laughing. The Russians laughed even harder when I told them the Mormons believed Jesus visited the United States. That was so hysterical to them.

(Orthodox Christianity is an older version of Christianity than that in the US.)

Nah, he's just got a very classic ethnic russian appearance and eyes. You never have to ask abut the ancestry of a man who looks like that, he's not modeled on a Bond villain, Bond villains were modeled on his ethnicity.

Glushkov alleged that Berezovsky and Alexander Litvenienko, a double agent who was killed with polonium poison, had both been on a Kremlin hitlist. He concluded: "I don't see anyone left on the list apart from me."

I'd say there's still a list and Grigory Rodchenkov is probably near the top and shitting himself right now.

For those that don't know of him I'd highly recommend checking out the documentary Icarus. He's the key reason the Russian doping scandal came to light and the cause for Russia's complete ban from the Olympics.

The most important thing about the Cuban Missile crisis is that neither country messed too close to the other again until Reagan escalated things. Everyone in JFK's cabinet wanted to retaliate including RFK and LBJ due to the Russian provocation even after being told to stop. Kruschev kept pushing the envelope by building the missile bases faster and shooting down US spy planes and bypassing the blockade. Kennedy was about to order the destruction of some or the missile sites before Kruschev caved.

If you are seriously worried think about it this way. Various nations were very close to going to war with Russia over the invasion of Crimea. Despite that, for better or for worst, we just imposed sanctions and told them not to do it again. No one honestly wants a war between major powers, and it will take something earth shattering (either in events or stupidity) to cause one

Yea props to Pakistan and India. They probably have the most open conflict of any pair of nuclear powers so they show some impressive restraint. That or they don't want to deal with the fallout from nuking their neighbors.

so a russian dies under suspicious circumstances in the UK and his russian friend comments about it. Then the russian friend dies under suspicious circumstances in the UK and his russian friend comments about it.

This Damian Kudryavtsev better watch out from now on. What a clusterfuck of a network.

Man, if I were him I'd never eat or drink anything I'd lost sight of. Security cameras in the apartment, all over the damn place, throw away all food and drink in the house, and buy brand new from a grocery store I'd never been to. Never eat food I didn't prepare myself, never drink while out except from freshly bought water bottles pulled personally from a fridge.

There's a chapter called Toxicology where he explains how poisons can be transmitted by birds that die and fall into your garden and decompose so when you grow your food trace elements of the poison will kill you.

For a long time he has been one of the more notable public Russian figures to continually denounce actions of Putin's government.

Former KGB general Oleg Kalugin in 2007 remarked, "I do not talk in details—people who knew them are all dead now because they were vocal, they were open. I am quiet. There is only one man who is vocal and he may be in trouble: [former] world chess champion [Garry] Kasparov. He has been very outspoken in his attacks on Putin and I believe that he is probably next on the list."

Another point btw. The (attempted) murder of oligarchs in the UK has had collateral damage, a policeman is in hospital and dozens are feared to have been exposed to the nerve agent, and three bystanders were hospitalised with radiation poisoning after the Litvinenko murder.

They're stealing everything they can. But it's all trapped in Russia as Rubles. (There's only so much crypto around to funnel some of it around the sanctions.) They want to turn their stolen proceeds into real money.

Russia (Putin): hmmmmm how shall I respond to Theresa May.... ahh yes. We can assassinate another Russian exile in the UK.

This is serious effed up. Why would Russia want these guys dead? I hope this doesn’t result in an actual war. The US better back up the sanctions that are about to be imposed on Russia. While we’re at it, we better ban them from the next Olympic s too.

Hitler wasn't irrational trying to take Poland- he'd already invaded 3 countries. Why would he have assumed Britain and France would have cared about THAT one. the west has been appeasing Russia for the past 15 years, why wouldn't he assume he can get away with whatever he wants

Eh. The nice part about having lived through a good chunk of the last Cold War is that I just don't care nearly as much now. I figure an actual shooting war is terribly unlikely and a nuclear one effectively impossible. so I'm just not going to waste a lot of time and attention on the matter.

Besides, if the great powers do actually start lobbing nukes around, it isn't like it'll matter if I was concerned about it ahead of time or not.

You'll see. An independent investigation will soon reveal that Glushkov accidentally stubbed his tow on a lump of pulonium-210 he left lying on the floor, which caused him to pitch violently down the stairs, snaring his head in the decorative noose hanging over his foyer, and in an effort to cut the rope he stabbed himself in the back, then upon dropping the knife into a black hole , shot himself 3 times in the head, whereupon the gun and shell casings also fell into the same black hole that mysteriously closed right afterward.

The oligarchs will go for him before the Russian people do. They've been through a lot, and it will take a lot to get them to rise-up.

I'm not discounting the possibility, but merely saying that the guy who just watched his overseas real estate seized, his bank accounts suddenly go to 0, and finds himself unable to travel to much of the world will be knocking on Putin's door long before the middle class Russians who endured the '90s.

If only Putin hadn't controlled pretty much military and FSB. FSB having all the evidence they need to legaly lock up any oligarch or thief and the only thing that prevent them from doing so is a political decision. For example in Russia there was a change of power in Republic Dagestan and internal source in FSB stated that they had evidence before and just political decision allowed them to move and remove all the thieves from there.

Berezovsky was an Oligarch and even more powerful than some of the others and even he died in exile. Don't exaggregate their power.

Me being a foreign affairs layman, I think May is going about this the right way. She waits for a response. No response is given, then she has a lot of pull when she goes to the UN and asks for all member countries to sanction Russia. What would
You suggest May do otherwise?

Sanctions go through the security council, of which Russia is a permanent member with veto power. You can't sanction them via the UN, but soft power can still be applied from the west,thougj to dubious efficacy. Recall how Russia continually ignores international law and relies on its very low nuclear threshold (stated position on readiness to use nukes if attacked) to deter any hard power responses from Nato and the international community.

The world just needs to cut Russia off. I feel for the citizens but it seems like we're putting up with a lot of their shit lately. Sanction the shit out of them even if their knee jerk reaction is to always blame us instead of cleaning up their act. Tell them to Crimea river.

I guess that Tillerson firing has really solidified the point that their wont be consequences regardless of what they do, so they might as well make use of this opportunity and get rid of opponents worldwide.